YouTube has launched an intriguing experiment for a limited number of users – online games. These games will reside in a brand-new “Playables” section right on YouTube’s home feed, accessible both on desktop and mobile.
This development aligns with a prior Wall Street Journal report, which mentioned that Playables would include titles like Stack Bounce, an arcade-style game where players navigate a 3D ball to smash through layers of rotating bricks.
Stack Bounce has been accessible on Google’s minigame platform, GameSnacks, since 2021, making it likely that many users will be eager to enjoy the game on YouTube.
Furthermore, users can conveniently manage their gaming history and saved progress via YouTube’s history tab in “My Activity.”
This experiment unfolds less than a year after Google’s decision to discontinue its cloud gaming service, Stadia, due to its struggle to gain traction. It faced tough competition from Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now. Data from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) indicated that in 2022, Stadia held an estimated 0-5% share of the cloud gaming market, while Nvidia GeForce claimed 20-30%.
